On Monday I played Mesopotamia with my friends Sean, Paul (my roommate) and Pat. Sean started off extremely well for birthing more tribesmen while the rest of us tried to make due with just 3. Then Sean set off to explore the starting side of the board while the rest explored the far side. He fell into wood and soon plopped down double huts and then shortly later 2 more. Very efficient! He was in great shape for having all his huts close to the temple but was lacking the rock he needed to increase his mana threshold.
The rest of us made average progress on the opposite end of the board, each building one hut and cashing in our first offerings. For having forgotten the rule about removing tribesmen who cash in an offering, we all enjoyed an undue, one-man advantage. I spotted the error perhaps a couple rounds later and we each removed a man to rectify the discrepancy as best we could. Meanwhile, Sean explored.
What followed was unbelievably amazing.
Sean was desparate for rock. And so he exlored three times–plains, plains, and more plains. Bad luck. The rest of us (still on the other side of the board) collectively explored a few times–plains, rock and wood. Sean: three times–plains, plains, plains!! Ugh! Us: plains, rock. Sean: three more times–still all plains!!
We were flabbergasted.
Sean wanted to crawl under a rock and die (trouble is, no rock). Our collective explorations uncovered more resources: rock and wood. Sean’s tenth exploration revealed yet another plains! His next explorations ended the anomoly: a useless wood. Then, finally, the untimely and long-overdue: rock.
What a monumental setback.
I’m not entirely sure what tiles the rest us drew between Sean’s turns and in what order. What I do recall is that Sean drew 10 consecutive plains tiles and that, collectively, to that point in the game, the rest of us explored perhaps half as much as Sean alone.
All that said, I barely edged out a win. Paul (to my left)–who incidentally had the first turn in the game–could have won on his turn. And Sean (to Paul’s left) could have won on his.
For Sean’s incredible string of bad luck and the forgotten-rule that advantaged us, it’s amazing that he was in striking distance of victory. This truly speaks of the brillance of his early play.
Sure, while he was watching us flip up the resource tiles, he might have anticipated a diminished chance on drawing needed resources, but who could fault him for trying. Who could possibly have anticipated such tragic luck?!
The finished landscape looked odd: half of the board was rock and wood with a smattering of plains, and the other half a vast and barren plains that, at a glance, resembled the Sahara desert. I’m not normally given to session reports, but the game told a strange and nearly unbelievable tale that I won’t soon forget.
I like Mesopotamia a lot. I guess I just like efficency, resource-management games, even if they are light. Plus, I like action point systems. On the whole, I just think Mesopotamia is a fun game and it’s a nice breather–I don’t stress about the risks posed by my competitors. I like plenty of tense games. It’s just nice to sometimes play a relaxed one. Yeah, there’s little deep, long-term strategy, and there are perhaps not many roads to victory, but it’s fun. Definitely a game I’m glad I bought.